The Sandlebacks
by Per Sempre
Summary: Alternate reality Sandles. Sara is a member of the gang called The Sandlebacks. Greg helps to catch her.
1. Chapter 1

Sara wakes up to the usual sound of gunfire in the alley. Sighing, she rolls out of bed and yells out her window for them to shut up. She looks in the grungy mirror above her dresser and inspects her neatly cornrowed hair as she ties a red bandana around her head. She changes into some clothes and the phone rings loudly behind her. As she moves to answer it, she stumbles over the piles of clothes and dirty magazines.

"Yo."

A meek voice flowed into the reciever.

"Uhm.. Heavy Nutz da Red Snappa?"

She frowns. She doesn't recognize the voice on the phone, but whoever it was had called her by her gang name. Puzzled, she asks.

"Who be this?" There is a pause.

"My.. my name is Greg.."

She laughs.

Greg. What a dumb name.

"What you want with me?"

"I.. I want to.. join the Sandlebacks."

She raises her eyebrow, wondering if this is some sort of joke.

"You want to roll with me and my gang?"

"Yeah."

She pauses, wondering what to do about this. She decides to take a chance; it wouldn't hurt to have some fresh meat.

"Meet me at the alley behind the Madrona Apartments. Midnight. Don't be late, maggot."

"Okay."

She hangs up the phone, wondering why someone who sounded so weak would ever want to join their gang.


	2. Chapter 2

Greg hangs up the phone, still feeling intimidated. He looks up to Grissom and Catherine, unsure. They smile at him slighty.. 

"Are you sure you want me to do this? I'm not sure if I can fit in with someone called Heavy Nutz da Red Snapper.."

Grissom smirks.

"You'll be fine. We'll be nearby, listening in. If you get into any trouble, we'll help you." He pauses and appreciatively says "You're going to help us catch the most notorious gang in Las Vegas, Greg." Greg scoffs.

Yeah, as bait..

"Fine."

Catherine and Grissom grin at each other.

"Thank you, Greg."

"Yeah, yeah." He rolls his eyes. Grissom pulls out his cell phone and calls Warrick to ask him to fit Greg with a wire. He hangs up and turns back to Greg.

"Go to the DNA lab. Warrick's waiting for you." Greg nods and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. As he walks to the DNA lab, he sees Warrick happily pulling out the wire. He enters and smiles halfheartedly. Without even looking up from what he's doing, Warrick tells him to take off his shirt. Greg sighs.

More strip forensics? Sheesh.

Though reluctant, he pulls his Sex Pistols shirt over his head and walks closer to the table where Warrick is working.

"So, why can't you be the bait?" he asks bitterly.

"I'm working a triple homicide, Greg. I'm busy."

Greg raises his eyebrow suspiciously.

"And I'm not?"

Warrick gives him a look.

"Shut up and make like a scarecrow."


	3. Chapter 3

Later, in the DNA lab, Greg is processing some blood evidence from Warrick's case, still thinking about what is going to happen to him tonight.

I bet I'll be shot. And murdered. And raped. Well, maybe not raped..

He looks up at the clock. 11 PM. There's one hour left. He sighs and puts the sample into the machine for it to process. He walks into Grissom's office and sees him freak out at a small cockroach on the ground, and stomp on it repeatedly. Grissom looks up at him with wide eyes.

"Don't.. tell.. anyone..."

Greg looks around, confused.

What the hell is up with this lab?

"All righty.." he looks up at the clock, "When do you want to leave?"

"Pretty soon. Just let me get my coat and.." he gestures to the squished bug on the floor, "clean this up. Sorry you had to see that, by the way.."

"It's.. it's okay." Greg sits down on one of the chairs in his office as he prepares to leave. He looks around the room, silently saying good-bye to the many oddities, wondering if he'll ever see them again. Grissom breaks his train of thought, telling him that it's time to leave. He stands up slowly and walks out the door.

Bye, Grissom's office..


	4. Chapter 4

Sara rests casually against the brick wall in the alley, smoking a joint, thinking about what the guy on the phone would be like. She looks up into one of the apartment windows to find a clock. It's 11:57. She sighs exasperatedly.

He'd better not be late.

As she looks around, she sees that the only things around her are a dumpster and an old, grungy rat, picking through the trash. She wonders how she became this way. Her brother was normal, as far as she knew. He had had the same opportunities and the same difficulties as she. She sighs, but doesn't have much time to ponder this, as someone is walking toward her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Now Greg, remember. The safety word is Aardvark. If we hear you say it, we'll come help you." Grissom extensively talks Greg through the safety precautions of working undercover as they stand in the trailor. Greg nods and sighs. 

"I know, boss. I'll remember." he opens the door and jumps out of the trailor. He walks himself through what he's going to say and do when he sees Heavy Nutz da Red Snappa. In the darkness of the alley, he sees a woman standing against a wall, blowing smoke into the air. His heart races as he comes ever closer to her. She doesn't look quite as terrifying as he had imagined. She actually looks quite pretty. But that doesn't stop his heart from racing; he knows what kinds of crimes she has committed in the past. As he approaches her, she looks at him and takes the joint out of her mouth, letting the hand holding it rest by her side. Nervously, he begins to speak.

"Hi. I'm Greg."

As she looks up, she scrutinizes the man standing beside her. She glances at his crossed arms, and can see that his hands are shaking, even though he is obviously trying to hide it. Still, she raises her eyebrow.

For someone like him.. he's pretty damn cute.

She tries not to look too impressed, as intimidation, she believes, is the key.

"Hey." She drops the joint on the ground and puts it out with her tattered blue tennishoes. "How you doin'?

Greg forces a smile at her, nervous about how this is all going to play out.

"I'm good."

She laughs, and at first, he takes this as a good sign, but then she looks at him, a slightly taunting glint in her eyes, and he feels anxious again. She speaks, wearing a smirk.

"You're just like how I imagined you." What this means, he never really found out. He just stood there dumbly, not sure what to say. She leans back against the brick wall crossing her arms.

"So why do you want to join the Sandlebacks?"

His blood suddenly runs cold. It's a question he never expected, even though he probably should have. He's tempted to just say 'aardvark' and run, but he keeps talking.

"Well.. uh, I .. don't know. I just.. do.."

Sara narrows her eyes at him.

"Oh really."

I'll admit, it's better than hearing 'It doesn't matter, let me in, bitch'

"How do I join?" Greg asks sheepishly. She puts her head against the wall and sighs, thinking of some sort of test she can put him through. Then she remembers.

"Well, first of all," she points to the dumpster nearby, "There's a body in there. Help me hide it."

Greg can't hide his shock. He yells 'aardvark'. She gives him a confused look, until she sees police men coming down the alley. She tries to run away, but they catch her, push her against the wall and handcuff her. Breathing heavily, she glares at Greg. The last words she says as she walks past are

"I'll get you."


	6. Chapter 6

As the officers take the woman away, Greg stands in the alley, still not fully comprehending what just took place. He looks up to see Catherine staring at him with worry-filled eyes. 

"Are you okay?" she asks him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He shrugs and sighs as he looks to the dumpster.

"I guess.. we should go check that out." he says, as he walks towards it. She holds him back.

"I'll do it. Just.. stand back here for now." she says, as she walks to the dumpster, opens it, and peers inside. She frowns and puts a hand to her temple, resting her elbow on the side of the dumpster.

"What?" Greg asks her, confused.

"There's no body here," she says, "Why did she tell you there was?"

He shrugs, annoyed by the false claim, and frustrated by something else, although he can't quite figure out what it is.


	7. Chapter 7

"Sara Sidle?"

She lifts her head out of her hand as one of the officers who arrested her walks in. It's the man, who has graying hair and blue eyes that could possibly be bright enough to burn her with. She looks at the two-way mirror, where she knows another officer, if not two or three, are sitting, watching. She doesn't look back to the officer in the room. He speaks again.

"Ms. Sidle, we can make a deal. Tell us where the rest of your gang is."

She looks up at him, glaring.

"No." she says defiantly.

Like hell I'm going to bring the rest of the gang down with me. I'm the one who was stupid enough to get caught.

The officer sighs as he sits down in the chair across from her.

"Okay, well.." He is interrupted as the female cop with blond hair enters the room. She gives her a dirty look then whispers something in the man's ear. He looks slightly shocked.

"Why did you tell Greg there was a body?" he asks, folding his hands in front of him. She looks at both cops.

"It was a test. I wanted to see how he reacted." She smirks, "Obviously it was a bad choice."

The officers look to each other again before the woman speaks.

"We'll need a DNA sample." She takes out a swab, "Say 'ahh'"

Sara rolls her eyes and reluctantly does so.


	8. Chapter 8

Greg walks into the room next to the interrogation room and looks into the two-way mirror. He watches as Catherine tells Grissom about the body, or lack thereof, and Grissom asking Heavy Nutz Da Red Snappa about it. He laughs quietly at her comment, then stops, surprised with himself.

Dude, it wasn't that funny. At all.

But somehow, when the words were coming from her mouth, it was. He bites his lip nervously, not sure what to think of this. He only gets like this when..

His thoughts freeze momentarily.

When he's attracted to someone.

He debates this in his mind over and over, not letting himself accept it. How could he be attracted to a suspect? No, not a suspect, a murderer. An actual murderer. He sits down on one of the stools in the room and holds his head in his hands. He faintly hears the door creak as someone walks in. He looks up and Catherine is standing there with a worried expression on her face.

"You don't look so good." she said, resting her hand on his shoulder, "You wanna talk about it?"

Lord knows he did, but he couldn't. Catherine played the role of the mother of the lab, who understands everything about everybody, but there's no way that she would understand this.

"Not really." he said, an apologetic look on his face. She nods in a way that says "I understand."

She could never understand this.


	9. Chapter 9

In the meantime, Sara was handcuffed and put in a small cell. She sits on the cold metal bench and stews over the happenings of tonight. She wonders how she could let herself be caught, be fooled by some scrawny science nerd; he didn't even look like someone who would join a gang. But then again, she tells herself, looks can be decieving. As she lies back on the bench, hands behind her head and legs crossed, she remembers his face. For a science nerd, he was pretty cute. 

Cute. Since when have I ever been attracted to cute?

She rolls her eyes and looks through the bars of her cell. As the officers walk by, they shoot her a weary glance and continue on their way to wherever they are heading.

What are they looking at?

She gets up from the hard, uncomfortable bench and moves to her not as hard, but still uncomfortable bed that might end up being hers permanently. She closes her eyes and tries to fall asleep, blocking out any and all thoughts of today. Especially of him.


End file.
